Government has tabled in the House of Assembly its estimates of revenue and expenditure for 2023 to 2024, projecting to spend 4.2 billion dollars in total while taking in 3.4 billion dollars in revenues.

Ahead of the debate, Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Ryan Straughn, laid out what he called a Fiscal Framework stressing that the government came into office having to fix a multitude of  problems.

He says government’s finances were in tatters with suppliers and even state agencies like the NIS owed nearly two billion dollars.

He adds that the issues included very high debt and low foreign reserves while government had to spend extra money and engage in additional borrowing to help the country ride out the covid-19 pandemic.

He says covid has forced government to recalibrate its fiscal and economic strategies but a key pillar will be protecting the vulnerable and tackling poverty.

And Mr. Straughn also notes that this comes at a time when government’s finances will be under the increased pressure from now having to start repaying debt.

He disclosed that the cash pressures created by the need to repay debt have implications for state enterprises that are funded by government.

He indicates that restructuring state agencies will now pick up pace.

Meantime, government will be seeking to raise locally through bonds, a lot of the money it needs to make up the cash shortfall.

Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Ryan Straughn.